At 11:30 p.m., on November 1, 2013, H.A. Tack, age 82, grabbed his son’s car keys off the
kitchen counter in an apartment that he shared with his son and, against doctor’s orders, headed
out for a late night spin. H.A. recently had suffered a minor heart attack and was warned by
doctors not to operate a car while he was getting adjusted to his new blood pressure medication,
as extreme dizziness and disorientation were two of its many known side effects. H.A. proceeded
north on Biscayne Boulevard in the general direction of Midtown. Fortunately, traffic was light.
In fact, the only other car within a mile of H.A. was a 2012 Corvette driven by Tara Blee
Mistaken. Tara was on her way home from work and was trailing H.A. by 200 yards or so in the
same (center) lane of travel.
All of a sudden, Tara noticed that H.A. had begun to weave in and out of the center lane.
Initially, she thought nothing of it, assuming the driver had simply had a little too much to drink.
However, her indifference turned to panic as she looked in the distance, approximately a mile
away, and saw that she and H.A. were approaching a bus bench crowded with people, including
children, on the right hand side of the road. Fearing for their safety, Tara hopped on the
accelerator to catch up with H.A. As she approached the vehicle at a high rate of speed (i.e., well
in excess of the posted speed limit), she saw H.A. with what appeared to be a dazed look on his
face. Concluding she had no choice but to take immediate action, Tara rammed into the left front
fender of the vehicle H.A. was driving.
The impact between the two vehicles forced H.A.’s vehicle off the roadway, where it slammed
into (and destroyed) two unoccupied parked cars and an aluminum light pole before coming to
rest 200 yards from the bus bench. Unfortunately, however, the combination of the collision with
H.A. and the excessive speed needed to catch up with him, in turn, caused Tara to lose control of
her car. Ironically, but quite unintentionally, she slammed into the crowded park bench, killing a
young boy, who was accompanied by his parents, and severely injuring several other bystanders.
Paramedics later arrived and rushed the injured to several local hospitals. Among the injured was
H.A., who, it turns out, had simply suffered an adverse reaction to his medication that caused
him to become only momentarily disoriented.
The following morning the local newspaper ran a photograph of Tara standing next to her totaled
car under the headline: “SUSPECTED DRUNK DRIVER CAUSES LATE NIGHT CHAOS!”
You work for a small personal injury firm that is the only game in town and over the next two
weeks your phone is ringing off the hook with the plethora of potential claims arising out of this
“accident.” The firm’s senior partner has asked you to prepare a short memo sorting all of this
out, so that he can decide who to represent (i.e., who has a good claim and who does not). The
partner wants short answers to these questions:
1. What torts, if any, did H.A. commit and who is likely to have a viable claim against him
(explain).
Each state has its own legislature for driving under the influence. In the State of Florida, the legal
code for driving under the influence is 316.193 driving under the influence and its penalties
legally. Since this was H.A.’s first criminal conviction for driving under the influence, the
following penalties in a criminal sense would apply to him:
(1) A person is guilty of the offense of driving under the influence and is subject to
punishment as provided in subsection (2) if the person is driving or in actual physical control of a
vehicle within this state and:
(a) The person is under the influence of alcoholic beverages, any chemical substance set
forth in s. 877.111, or any substance controlled under chapter 893, when affected to the extent
that the person’s normal faculties are impaired;
(b) The person has a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 or more grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters
of blood; or
(c) The person has a breath-alcohol level of 0.08 or more grams of alcohol per 210 liters of
breath.
(2)(a) Except as provided in paragraph (b), subsection (3), or subsection (4), any person who
is convicted of a violation of subsection (1) shall be punished:
1. By a fine of:
a. Not less than $500 or more than $1,000 for a first conviction.
b. Not less than $1,000 or more than $2,000 for a second conviction; and
2. By imprisonment for:
a. Not more than 6 months for a first conviction.
b. Not more than 9 months for a second conviction.
The police would apprehend H.A. to deal with the criminal conviction first. Once this is dealt
with, H.A. would be requested to come to the court to deal with the civil litigation and/or tort
law. The lawyer representing those with H.A. as a defendant would need to ensure that H.A.’s
lawyer does not minimize the severity of their injuries. Civil litigation into the millions could be
potentially charged against H.A. particularly since a young boy died and several were injured
and he was the cause of for why the accident took place. Tara would need to make sure that she
correctly blames the cause for the accident on H.A. during civil litigation and also criminal
defense.
2. What torts, if any, did Tara commit and who is likely to have a viable claim against her
(explain).
The torts that Tara committed in this case are causing death by a car accident and the parents of
the young boy who was killed would have a claim against her, as well as others who were
injured at the bus stop. The viable claim could be that although Tara was trying to be helpful, she
should not have taken the law into her own hands and rammed H.A.’s vehicle. If she had a cell
phone on her she could have simply called the police and let the authorities handle the situation.
3. What torts did the local newspaper commit, if any, and who is likely to have a viable claim
against it (explain).
21 Jul 2016, 2:17 PM
The torts that the local newspaper committed against Tara was libel, defamation and slander
because she was not drunk at the time the accident occurred. Tara can sue the newspaper for
misrepresenting her actions and receive at least approximately $1 million from that lawsuit
which would help her to pay for her other legal fees, her attorney fees and the restitution that she
would need to pay for the criminal conviction of killing a young boy as well as injuring other
people at the bus stop.